Call to wear football shirts at work to back World Cup bid

FOOTBALL fans across South Yorkshire are being urged to wear the colours of their favourite football team at work next week to boost Sheffield's chances of hosting World Cup matches in eight years time.
By The Newsroom
Published 18th Aug 2010, 21:55 BST
Updated 18th Aug 2010, 21:55 BST

Next Tuesday marks the start of what organisers of the city's bid are calling a "100-day countdown" to world football governing body FIFA announcing the host of the 2018 World Cup.

If England is chosen as the host country, then Sheffield will go into battle with other cities across Britain who all want to win the honour of staging games in the showpiece championship.

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FIFA delegates will be visiting England next week and the English Football Association said it had organised the national dress-down day to show the country's passion for football.

Businesses, social clubs and Sheffield Council have already signed up to take part in the effort after being encouraged by England international Rio Ferdinand, who is backing the bid.

Sheffield 2018, the group which is organising Sheffield's hopes, has estimated that hosting the FIFA World Cup in the city would bring up to 300m extra revenue for the region's businesses.

The Sheffield and Hallamshire FA (SHFA) is also calling on members of the 5,000 teams they represent to wear the kits of the teams they play for to demonstrate the abundance of football teams the city embraces.

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Wayne Coyle, director of the Sheffield 2018 bid, said: "The huge number of football teams this city and South Yorkshire is home to is one of the key themes of Sheffield's bid.

"The sheer volume of support we have for football and all sport shows we have enormous passion for the game. Winning the bid would also have a massive economic impact so Wear Your Shirt to Work Day is the perfect opportunity for businesses to show their backing to the bid.

"I hope people across South Yorkshire will wear not just the shirts of the six big Football League clubs in the region, but those of the shirts of their Sunday League teams, their under-11 clubs and their local pub side with pride."

Rio Ferdinand said: "Wear Your Shirt To Work Day is a great chance for the entire country to get together. It will be great to see so many people wearing their football shirts to work."

Related topics:Rio FerdinandSouth YorkshireFIFAEnglandBritain